The New Jersey State AFL-CIO Community Services Inc., a nonprofit agency of the state federation, has partnered with Hudson County to create the state’s first labor-led immigrant advocacy center, which will help thousands of legal immigrants achieve their American Dream of full citizenship and the right to vote.

The We Are One New Jersey Hudson County Center officially opened on Tuesday, October 28, 2014, with a kickoff ceremony attended by dozens of labor, political, civic and community leaders. Specifically, the center provides U.S. citizenship application assistance, including preparatory classes for the citizenship test, voter registration and education on workplace rights to residents of Hudson County at low- or no-cost.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO sincerely thanks our affiliates, community partners, and many elected leaders who continue to make statewide earned sick days a top priority for our state. Today, the State Federation was proud to join with our progressive allies to offer testimony before the Assembly Labor Committee in support of the statewide earned sick days bill (A-2354). The bill was released by a vote of 6 to 3 which fell along party lines:

Whether it’s devoting lunch hours to assembling candidate packets or spending Saturday mornings knocking on union members’ doors to inform them about their choices in the upcoming election, our union volunteers are THE reason the New Jersey State AFL-CIO-sponsored Labor Walk Program is the most successful in the country.

Your efforts are essential for success at the polls on Election Day. Every union leader is strongly encouraged to provide volunteers for Election Day Get-Out-The-Vote.

It gets harder every day to take Governor Christie seriously. His latest inflammatory comment that he is “tired of hearing about the minimum wage” further demonstrates how out of touch he is with low- and middle-income families.

The Assembly Labor Committee has just announced that it will consider very important legislation on earned sick time next week. Details are as follows:

In a matter of five weeks an astounding 94,325 union household doors have been knocked on thanks to the unflagging resolve and solidarity of Labor 2014 volunteers. This number was featured prominently in this week’s edition of Politifax, one of New Jersey’s most widely read political newsletters.

Eleven-hundred of our brothers and sisters from UNITE HERE Local 54 who work at Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino are being stripped of their pension and health care due to the flagrant anti-union actions of a billionaire businessman and a giant casino company.